Originally Posted by
flyingcrooked
Remember though that at least a good chunk of this is probably because of the restriction on R space to and from Europe. Personally I have not seen any R space on any flights to/from Europe in the past couple of months, over many dozens of searches (I've been looking at flight options rather than searching for R, as I don't expect to find any.) And my 5 or 6 flights have all gone to the gate even when J was very undersold, which suggests they're not pushing much to R even inside the clearance windows.
Suggesting AC was letting half the J cabin go to eUps in advance is ludicrous. While R0 might be more common now, it's not like these flights were typically R9 before. Is restricting R space resulting in a seat or two on some flights going un-upgraded to the gate? Possibly. But close to half the cabin? No.
It's clear that the Olympics are driving people away from CDG in particular and that AC and others are seeing softening in demand for premium leisure travel. That's it.